After Tyers got splattered with the dog food in 2001, the Tesco store she was at went above and beyond to make things right with her.
She told the Telegraph: “The management sent me home on Tuesday with a free bottle of good Merlot and a big bottle of champagne. My clothes are going to a specialist dry cleaner today and Tesco are covering the bill. My boots are ruined and so they are replacing them for me.”
The standardized ways in which companies respond to exploding dog food claims seem to suggest it’s something they might encounter regularly, or at the very least commonly enough to have a protocol in place.
People who’ve called dog food companies say they’ve also noticed a certain lack of surprise in the reactions they get when they share their stories.
“They didn’t seem that shocked,” one person wrote about his experience calling a company.
So if exploding dog food is a known problem, shouldn’t we have a solution for it by now?
It’s trickier than that.
There are multitude of reasons why a can of dog food might spontaneously combust. In order to investigate them, it helps to have the can itself, which is why some companies, like Tesco, ask the pet owners to mail them in for further inspection.
They might notice that the can had been pierced, which can happen during transportation or if an animal gets to it. In fact, Crissell’s first thought when he woke up to find his kitchen dripping with dog food, was to blame his cat. Just one small hole can ruin an airtight container, enabling pressure to slowly build up inside of it until it finally explodes.
Cans that are contaminated with botulism will also explode. Botulism is a food borne illness that occurs when bacteria grows in improperly canned or preserved foods. It can affect both humans and pets, creating symptoms that include dizziness, blurred vision, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and in rare cases, even death.
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